Cambodia needs international help in erecting defences against terrorism or it could become a safe haven for al Qaeda and similar groups, Chile's U.N. ambassador has warned. "Without that, they will become a breeding ground for terrorism," Heraldo Munoz, the chairman of a Security Council committee that monitors al Qaeda and related organizations, said on Friday after an official visit to Cambodia. The southeast Asian nation has to date adopted no counter-terrorism legislation, set up no financial intelligence unit and signed just four of the 12 international conventions against terrorism and ratified none of them, Munoz said. "Therefore, there is reason for concern, particularly since Cambodia in the south does have a Muslim community that has been discriminated against and there has been violence," he said.
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A visit to Cambodia by an Indonesian-born preacher named Hambali was another sign the country could become a haven for militants hoping to stage attacks against domestic targets as well as other countries, Munoz said. Hambali, whom authorities believe was Osama bin Laden's key link to Southeast Asia, has been in U.S. custody since his arrest in Thailand last year. He "spent some time in Cambodia. He was not vacationing there, clearly," Munoz said. Cambodia was aware of its need to act but lacked the resources, including international law experts and translators to convert documents into the local language, the envoy said. "With no cooperation, there will be no progress against terrorism," Munoz said. "Otherwise, we will see terrorist actions in these countries. We are very certain of that." |